Affordable Housing In The Rearview Mirror In This Montana Town

As we all know, it's expensive to live in Montana. Rent, groceries, gas, I mean the list goes on and on. Many states are facing these struggles, but for some reason, it just seems way higher here. Perhaps it's because the population of Bozeman is less than 60k and the average home price is over half a million dollars.

Those numbers alone make it seem like only the rich will survive. House prices are most likely going to stay the same for the foreseeable future, which is unfortunate and unaffordable, considering for the last year we have been told time and time again, "more housing means more affordable living."

I don't know about you, but I feel slightly duped.

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When will prices be affordable for those making $45-$50k per year? Never. Hell, even if you make $100,000 a year, you will struggle unless you have no other bills monthly.

Let's be honest with ourselves, affordable housing is so far away by the time it happens I have a feeling most of us will have been pushed out. Just in the last three years my rent alone has gone up $400 per month and many of us have struggled with this.

Rental companies changing hands and changing leases the second you are up for renewal. Such a crap shoot for renters. You end up in a situation that has two options. Stay at your current place and pay more or try and find a new place and come up with money for the application fee, deposit, and rent. By the time you have all of that in place, you are most likely looking at $3,000-$5,000 just to move into a new place. This is how rental companies are keeping their tenants with the ability to up rent.

At what point will the "people with authority" stop kicking out the people who made this town a home and opening the flood gates to the "rich".